Technology Simply Explained

[lee2sman]

A book of things that are quite complicated explained in simple terms. (just kidding, completely confusing)

Source text:
Gas and Oil Engines SIMPLY EXPLAINED

[lee2sman]

Step 1: Download text file. Remove leading spaces. Remove all blank lines. Remove intro Gutenberg info. Concat all lines. Force line breaks at every period.

[lee2sman]

Sample text using the Linux shuf command (which just pulls sentences out at random):

  Fig.
  [Illustration: FIG.
 3.
 19 we show diagrammatically the ordinary form of magneto machine.
] If the speed of the engine is sufficiently high, the arm L is thrust forward at such a rate that the weight W tends to lag behind, with the result that P is raised above the notch in B, as shown by the dotted lines in drawing.
 Then, again, we can pump oil through a spraying nipple into the vapouriser (which is kept at a suitable temperature) whilst the cylinder is being filled with air on the suction stroke.
  (3) Maximum expansion.
 18; (2) by keeping the supply of air constant, and varying the amount of gas admitted through nipple N.
1.
 In the reservoir R is fitted an overflow pipe, so that the oil cannot rise beyond a certain level; hence the head of oil in the smaller one M is always constant.

[lee2sman]

Some goals:

• Use ancient book font.
• Add in obscure diagrams.
• Remove number lines?

[lee2sman]

Kind of a great preface. Must be re-worked somehow.

I'm thinking the formula can be:

1. Preface (with randomly named widget machine subbing in for "gas engine, or an oil engine")
2. Then add some number of pulled sentences: shuf input.txt -n <number of lines>
3. Add in some diagrams (generative?)
4. Do this until wordcount > 50k.
5. Profit

[lee2sman]

looking for suggestions of how to generate diagrams or funny pictures. ideally, all images of obscure machines.

[lee2sman]

Example output now. Should definitely add diagrams, and clean up design and maybe placement of illustrations.

My object in placing this handbook before the reader is to provide them with a simple and straightforward explanation of how and why magnetic tape data storage work. The main features and peculiarities in the construction of these magnetic tape data storage are described, while the methods and precautions necessary to arrive at desirable results are detailed as fully as the limited space permits. I have aimed at supplying just that information which my experience shows is most needed by the user and by the amateur builder of small power magnetic tape data storage. In place of giving a mere list of common magnetic tape data storage troubles and their remedies, I have thought it better to endeavour to explain thoroughly the fundamental principles and essentials of good running, so that should any difficulty arise, the magnetic tape data storage attendant will be able to reason out for themself the cause of the trouble, and will thus know the proper remedy to apply. This will give them a command over their magnetic tape data storage which should render them equal to any emergency.

Reference to the various diagrams in the text will help considerably, and make it an easy matter for any reader hitherto totally unacquainted with such engines to see why and how they work.
It will be seen that the suction of the pump will draw the oil up, the small and lower ball valve, of course, allowing it to pass freely.
Barsanti's engine never became a commercial article; while Otto & Langen's firm, it is said, held their own for ten years, and turned out about 4000 engines.
This shield keeps all draughts and puffs of wind from the fly-wheel away from the aperture, and helps the flame to burn very steadily.
Therefore, to obtain a definite opening we must set out the cam, as shown in fig.
If it is nicely rounded off, giving a gradual rise, very little tension (or compression, as the case may be) of the controlling spring will be necessary to give the required speed to engine; whereas, if the rise is sudden, the spring will have to be screwed up tighter, and, if uneven and lumpy (_i.
A small stop interposed between the lever and some convenient part of the engine, such as the side-shaft bracket bearing, answers this purpose.
The small lump on the back of exhaust cam, fig.
Fig.
A lock nut should be used in conjunction with this set screw.

[lee2sman]

Still polishing:

How a brain-computer interfaces works

It will be seen that the weight W (which is only held in the position shown by the spring S) will tend to lag behind when a sudden upward motion is imparted to the lever L.
The slightest movement of the crank from this point in a forward direction should result in a little play being felt in the lever L, assuming that the cam is also moved just enough to keep the scriber marks in line with the existing keyway.
of gas were required per horse-power per hour, but it was found that as much as 105 cubic ft.
The wheel drives a brass or gun-metal plug, producing an intermittent rotary motion.
The difficulty of producing an efficient oil engine lies principally in devising a satisfactory and reliable vapouriser--one which will work equally well under all loads.
Barsanti and Matteucci were engaged in devising and experimenting with an engine very similar to this some years before, but Otto & Langen, no doubt, worked quite independently.
The gas and air valve are shown as both being operated by the same lever P, the accurate timing of the latter being obtained by means of set screws.
e.
Assuming that we have both cams finished to the proper shape and size, and the keyway cut in the side shaft, we can commence to mark off the position of keyway in the air cam.

[lee2sman]

a little test. Will look better with different old font I think, and maybe some more formulas.

[lee2sman]

some refinements of the diagram generator:

[lee2sman]

Pages are coming together. Here's a current screengrab from one of the pages. Some time polishing the output is ahead.

[lee2sman]

Project repo lives here. I'm actively working on it.

[cpressey]

I like this. Keep it up!

looking for suggestions of how to generate diagrams or funny pictures. ideally, all images of obscure machines.

Well, since this has made me think about it...

(1a) Patent applications often contain diagrams, and after time they fall into the public domain. Apparently NASA released some of these in 2016, but the link to their "searchable database" is broken. One problem remains: extracting the relevant images. I worked on a tool for this a couple of NaNoGenMo's back, using Python and pillow, but I don't recall how well I got it to work.

(1b) Scans of old books about machines on e.g. archive.org would work just as well as patent applications. I haven't looked though.

(2) You could also do a search for "machine" on one of those free vector clipart sites. For example: https://free-images.com/search/?q=machine&cat=vr . You definitely get mixed results that way. Which might actually be a plus. But it's hard to control the aesthetic.

(3) And then there's graphviz. This is a command-line tool that takes a file in .dot format which describes a graph, and generates an image of boxes and arrows and labels and stuff. You could probably get a lot of mileage just randomly generating .dot files. But you'd have to learn the .dot format first.

[hugovk]

Could also check Flickr Commons of free images:

• https://www.flickr.com/commons

For example searching British Library for "machine":

• https://flickr.com/search/?user_id=12403504%40N02&view_all=1&text=machine